As a math teacher, I like IXL. It give students math practice problems with immediate feedback. But...it could be more "fun." So I like to use the following ideas to make it more exciting! (#2 is my absolute fave!)
1. IXL Race! (for quick IXLs)
This works best on a topic where students don't need to write down lots of work because you never want to rush their deep thinking process. But this works for 'quicker' topics like choosing the equivalent decimal, choosing greater and less than, recognizing types of triangles, etc.
What I do is I complete the IXL first. However long it took me to take it, I add anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute to my time. That is the student's race time. Each homeroom (I teach 5 classes of math) has that length of time to race. When the timer goes off, I put the homeroom average (average of their smartscores) on the board and the homeroom with the highest average gets tickets. (We have a ticket system for a positive behavior/good work system.) They will work much harder in a race format and with the idea of competing against the other classes!
2. Connect Four IXL (for longer IXLs)
I have a large Connect Four board for this activity. This game works well for IXLs that take longer and you want the kids to keep pushing themselves to higher smartscores.
-Split your class into 2 color teams (I have red and yellow connect four pieces so I have Team Red and Team Yellow).
-Each time their smartscore gets to a 70, 85, and 100, they can go "make a play" for their team (so they can make a maximum of 3 plays for their team).
-The student who makes the play that gets the win will clear the board and give their team a point.
-Usually my class can do about 4 rounds during an IXL.
-The team who won the most rounds get a ticket for their win (or whatever 'prize' you want to give).
3. Masters of IXL (any length of IXL)
Once a student gets a 100 on their IXL, they can move around the room as an IXL Master who helps others. Of course, you have to watch that they are really 'helping' and not doing too much for someone else! :) But many kids are good helpers and lots of students prefer peer assistance.
Do you have IXL ideas? I'd love more ideas! I probably read these online somewhere but I have no clue where to give credit to these ideas! I've just used them for lots of IXLs and they work great!!!